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The Delaware Curve 

THE STORY OF 

THE PENNSYLVANIA-DELAWARE 
CIRCULAR BOUNDARY 


) 


By J. CARROLL HAYES , Esq. 

WEST CHESTER. PA. 




































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THE DELAWARE CURVE. 


THE STORY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA-DELAWARE 

CIRCULAR BOUNDARY. 

By J. CARROLL HAYES. Esq. 

This subject, though seemingly one remote in time 
and interest, is in reality one of live present-day 
moment, since this unique curved boundary has only 
just been marked definitely and permanently upon 
the ground, after more than 220 years of uncertainty. 
Not since 1701 had the line been run, and then only 
with primitive instruments and methods, and marked 
merely by notches on the trees, which of course soon 
disappeared. 

Not till 1892 was the line finally marked upon the 
ground, by a Joint Commission of the two States. 
This action was ratified by Pennsylvania in 1897, but 
Delaware failed to ratify until, through the efforts 
of the Chester County Historical Society, it was finally 
ratified by that State and by Congress in 1921. 

This curved boundary is a truly unique thing in 
geography, not only through the existence of the little 
wedge-shaped tract at its Western end (which by the 
new survey is given to Delaware), but more especially 
by the adoption of a mathematical curve as a boundary 
between States or countries. (See Appendix, Note A.) 

The existence of Delaware as a separate State is 
itself an interesting anomaly. The Delaware-Mary- 
land Peninsula is a unit in natural features as well 
as economically, and yet we find it divided among 
three States. To understand the reason for this seem¬ 
ing anomaly and for the existence of the circular 
boundary we must go back into history. 


2 


The Delaware Curve . 


It seems certain there would be no separate State 
of Delaware today, were it not for two historical facts, 
(1) the existence in Lord Baltimore’s Charter for 
Maryland of the little clause “Hactenus inculta” 
(hitherto unsettled), and (2) the failure of the Mary¬ 
land colonists to settle upon the Western shore of 
Delaware Bay, but confining themselves to the more 
accessible inlets and rivers of the Chesapeake shores. 

The claims of Lord Baltimore and William Penn 
(who, it must be remembered, owned Delaware as 
well as Pennsylvania) were overlapping, and led to 
border disputes and troubles lasting almost a century, 
being more prolonged and bitter than in the case of 
any of the other Colonies. 

Lord Baltimore’s Charter (1632) extended to “that 
part of the Bay of Delaware on the North which lieth 
under the fortieth degree of north latitude.” 

The maps in existence at that time showed the 
parallels of latitude as much lower down, or more 
southerly than their true location as ascertained later. 
According to those maps, Lord Baltimore thought his 
province extended only to about the head of the Dela¬ 
ware and Chesapeake Bays. 

The true parallel of forty degrees, however, does not 
touch either of these bays, hut crosses the northern 
edge of Philadelphia. Were the natural bounds to 
govern, or the astronomical, as later ascertained? It 
is a well-known rule of legal construction of deeds 
that where the landmarks or natural bounds upon 
the ground differ from the mathematical lines in the 
written instrument, the natural bounds shall govern. 
In those days of inaccurate astronomical and mathe¬ 
matical instruments especially was this rule a neces¬ 
sity. Here were grounds for a dispute. 

Another source of contention was in the language of 
Lord Baltimore’s Charter, which, in the preamble, 
specified the land granted to him as “Hactenus 

g m 

^UtllOP 

WL S3 13.22 


The Delaware Curve. 


3 


inculta” (hitherto unsettled or uncultivated). Un¬ 
fortunately for him there had been a settlement by 
the Dutch the year previous, within the limits of his 
grant. This was at Swaanendael, near the present 
Lewes. 

The Dutch purchased their lands from the Indians, 
and also made claim by virtue of Hudson’s discoveries, 
and they later spread along the Delaware shore, con¬ 
solidating their holdings into a colony. All this was 
without any effectual opposition from the Mary¬ 
landers, who were attracted by the more accessible 
estuaries bordering the Chesapeake. 

This title of the Dutch, whatever it was, to the 
western shores of the Delaware passed by conquest 
to the English under the Duke of York in 1664. The 
Dutch in the meantime, had (in 1655) acquired by 
conquest the holdings of the Swedes who had also 
from 1638 on, been extending their settlements along 
the Delaware shore, claiming by Indian purchases. 

Thus we have, on the one hand, the Maryland claim, 
never effectually asserted, to these western shores of 
the Delaware; and on the other hand, the Duke of 
York’s claim to the same areas through the Dutch and 
Swedes, by right of conquest and prior settlement. 

Now comes William Penn upon the scene. In 1681, 
in consideration of a debt to his father, Charles II 
agreed to grant him a charter for the region lying 
north of Lord Baltimore’s grant. 

In view of the previous troubles arising from vague 
and indefinite grants in the New World, the agents 
both of Lord Baltimore and of the Duke of York were 
called in, to ascertain how this proposed grant might 
comport with their claims. Several months of negotia¬ 
tions followed. 

The duke of York was willing that the grant be 
made, providing the newcomers be kept at least twenty 
miles from his capital, New Castle. Finally this 


4 


The Delaware Curve. 


distance was reduced to twelve miles. It is as though 
the Duke, with a truly ducal or princely gesture, were 
to swing his great arm in a semi-circle about New 
Castle, proclaiming that the territory for twelve miles 
on all sides was to remain his, and that thus far and 
no farther should the new province extend. 

Putting this thought into the language of a charter, 
Penn’s grant was specified as bounded on the south 
by a “ circle to be drawn at twelve miles distance from 
New Castle, northward and westward unto the begin¬ 
ning of the 40tli degree, and thence by a straight line 
westward,” etc. 

Here then was the origin of the unique curve that 
is the subject of this sketch. 

When in 1682, Penn arrived in his new province, he 
was disappointed that it lay so far from the sea. 
Moreover, recent observations had seemed to indicate 
the 40th parallel lay much farther north than the 
earlier maps had shown. Penn accordingly entered into 
negotiations with the Duke of York for a transfer to 
him of the possessions on the West Shore of Delaware 
Bay to which the latter laid claim as above narrated. 

This transfer was made the same year by two deeds 
of feoffment, one conveying the town of New Castle 
and the region lying within twelve miles about the 
same, and the second the land extending south from 
this Circle to Cape Henlopen. Under the first deed 
livery of seizin was made to Penn of “twig and turf” 
and also of “water and fowl of the river Delaware.” 
(See note B, Appendix.) 

By these two deeds Penn succeeded to the “Three 
Lower Counties,” as they were called, or the “Terri¬ 
tories,” now the State of Delaware. 

The inhabitants, almost entirely of Dutch and 
Swedish blood, accepted peaceably their transfer of 
allegiance to the new proprietor. Several attempts 


The Delciivare Curve. 


5 


were made by Penn and Lord Baltimore to agree 
upon their boundaries; all of which came to naught. 

In 1683 Lord Baltimore petitioned the King urging 
his claims, and in the same year sent agents to demand 
the territories in dispute. 

At length, in 1685, the controversy was referred by 
the King’s Council to the Committee of Trade and 
Plantations, which found that Lord Baltimore’s grant 
was only for unsettled territory, whereas the Dutch 
had settled there prior to his grant and had since 
developed a separate colony. They accordingly gave 
their decision, splitting the difference between the two 
sides, directing that the Peninsula “be divided into 
equal parts by a line from the latitude of Cape Hen- 
lopen, to the 40tli degree of North latitude.” 

Before anything was done to run the lines thus 
decreed, came the Revolution of 1688, as a result of 
which the proprietary governments of both Pennsyl¬ 
vania and Maryland were overturned. Penn’s govern¬ 
ment, however, was soon restored to him. 

The story is a long one, of the attempts to run the 
boundary line between their respective possessions, 
with the interminable disputes and border troubles 
resulting therefrom. Neither Penn nor Lord Balti¬ 
more lived to see their end. Finally in 1732, Penn’s 
sons and the then Lord Baltimore came to a compro¬ 
mise agreement, each party yielding somewhat from 
their extreme positions. (See Appendix, note D.) 

By this agreement a line was to be run across the 
Peninsula westward from Cape Henlopen (not the 
present Cape of that name but one farther south bear¬ 
ing that name on some of the earlier maps). From the 
middle point on this line, the boundary was to run 
in a northerly direction until it should strike at a 
tangent a circle having a 12-mile radius from New 
Castle; thence to run due north until it reached the 
same latitude as 15 miles south of the most southern 


6 


The Delaware Curve. 


part of Philadelphia. This point was to be the north¬ 
east corner of Maryland, and the boundary was thence 
to be run due westward. These directions account for 
the present southern and western boundaries of Dela¬ 
ware. 

While these limits might seem clearly enough ex¬ 
pressed, it still required over thirty years of wran¬ 
gling, of abortive surveys, of repeated resorts to the 
High Court of Chancery in England and of still 
another agreement (1760) expressed in much more 
elaborate terms, before these inter-colonial lines were 
finally run, in 1764-1767, by two mathematicians and 
surveyors of note from England, Charles Mason and 
Jeremiah Dixon. The lines were completed but a few 
years before the Revolution, when, by what might seem 
the strange irony of fate, both proprietors lost their 
colonies, and at the same time Delaware broke away 
from Pennsylvania to form a separate State. 

In this long story of boundary disputes and troubles 
along our Borderland, there are a multitude of inter¬ 
esting and stirring incidents that await but the magic 
pen of a Scott to be woven into a narrative little 
inferior in interest and romance to those of his own 
famed Borderland. 

Mason and Dixon, it must be remembered, were 
employed solely to run the lines between the posses¬ 
sions of the Penns and Lord Baltimore, and so were 
not called upon to run the curved circular boundary of 
which we are writing. As a matter of fact, they did run 
a small section of this circle, viz., the little segment, 
about 14 miles long, just north of the tangent point, 
which was cut off from the circle by the line running 
due north from the tangent point. Under the agree¬ 
ment this small segment was to belong to Delaware. 

THE CURVE. 

To revert now to the story of the Curve, which yet 
remained to be run, this boundary was not of especial 


The Delaware Curve . 


7 


importance so long as Penn owned the territory on 
both sides of it. It was then merely an inter-Connty 
line, between Chester and New Castle Counties. 

When, however, the Three Lower Counties de¬ 
manded and received the right to a separate legislative 
Assembly, owing to differences in blood and material 
interests, the question of a boundary between them 
became of more importance. It was, doubtless, owing 
to this impending separation of the Assemblies, that 
the circular line was at last run, in 1701. 



Copy of Taylor and Pierson’s survey of 1701. 


By warrant dated the 28th day of ye 8th month, 
1701, Penn directed Isaac Taylor, of Chester County, 
and Thomas Pierson, of New Castle County, to accom¬ 
pany the Magistrates of each County or any three of 
them to “ admeasure and survey from ye town of New 
Castle the distance of twelve miles on a right line by 
ye river Delaware upward and from the said distance 
to divide between the said Counties by a circular line 
extending according to ye Kings’ letters pattents and 











8 


The Delaware Curve. 


deeds of enfeoffment from the Duke, and ye said 
circular line to be well marked two-third parts of ye 
semi-circle.’’ (See Appendix, note C .) 

Taylor and Pierson’s original draft of this survey, 
together with their field notes and return to the war¬ 
rant, are among the archives of the Pennsylvania His¬ 
torical Society. They are excellently preserved, and 
make most interesting reading for the student of this 
subject. 

This return, together with the certificate of the 
Magistrates who accompanied the two surveyors, 
follow: 

“These are to Certifie that on ye twenty fifth Day of ye Ninth 
Month 1701 Wee met at New Castle with Cornelius Empson, Richard 
Halliwell and John Richardson, Justices of ye County of New Castle, 
and Caleb Pusey, Philip Roman and Robert Pile, Justices of the 
County of Chester, who Did Unamously Conclude that the Beginning 
should be at the End of the Horse Dike next ye said Town of New 
Castle and from thence to Measure Due North the said Distance of 
twelve miles and at the Extent thereof to Run the said Circular Line 
first Eastward Down to the River and then to Return to ye said 
Extent of twelve Miles North, and to Run the said Circle Westward 
until it should Compleat the two third parts of the said Semicircle, 
And Accordingly the Twenty sixth Day of ye said Month we did 
begin in ye Presence of ye said Justices at ye said End of ye Horse 
Dike and Measured Due North twelve Miles to a White Oak Marked 
with twelve Notches Standing on ye West Side of Brandywine Creek 
in the Land of Israel Helm, and from the said White Oak Wee Ran 
Eastward Circularly changing our Course from the East Southward 
one degree at the End of Every Sixty Seven Perches, which is the 
Chord of one Degree to a twelve Miles Radius, and at ye End of forty 
three Chords wee Came to Delaware River on ye upper side of Na- 
thanel Lamply’s Old Hous at Chichester and then wee Returned to the 
said White Oak in Israel Helm’s Land and from thence we Ran West¬ 
ward changing our course one Degree from the West Southward at ye 
End of Every Sixty Seven Perches as before until we had extended 
Seventy Seven Chords, which being Added to forty three Chords make 
two third parts of the Semicircle to a twelve Miles Radius, all which 
said Circular Line being well marked with three Notches on Each 
side the Trees to a Marked Hickery Standing Near ye Western Branch 
of Christina Creek. 

Surveyed the 4 th day Of the 10th Month 1701 By us 

Isaac Taylor 
& Thomas Pierson. 


The Delaware Curve. 


9 


“These may Certifie that Isaac Taylor and Thomas Pierson Did 
accompany Us at ye Town Of New Castle ye 25th Day of ye 9th month 
1701, together with Richeard Halliwell, being all Justices of ye Peace, 
where we did unanimously agree and conclude that in order to Ad¬ 
measure and survey the twelve Miles Distance from New Castle Town 
for the Dividing the County of New Castle from the County of Chester 
according to ye Proprietary’s Warrant the Beginning should be at ye 
End of ye Horse Dike next the said Town and then to Run Due 
North twelve Miles and from ye Extent thereof to Divide the Said 
Counties by a Circular Line as is above Certified, and that at ye 
End of the said Horse Dike ye said Isaac Taylor and Thomas Pierson 
did begin to Measure the said twelve miles in ye Presence of us all to¬ 
gether with Richard Halliwell, and from that time we were sometime 
five but never less than four all ye running ye said North Line and also 
the two thirds of ye Semi-circle till it was compleated according to 
ye above Certificate and ye whole was finished ye 4th of the Instant, 
to this Certificate we do Subscribe our Names ye 13th of ye 10th month 
1701. 

Cornelius Empson Caleb Pusey 

John Richardson Philip Roman 

Robert Pile.” 

This survey of the curve was made in rather crude 
fashion. It was run with an ordinary chain and com¬ 
pass, and but nine or ten days were spent upon the 
work. When the line was attempted to he relocated 
in 1892, as will hereafter appear, it was found that 
Taylor and Pierson’s north line ended about a mile 
too far west, and overran some 2000 feet. 

These early surveyors make return as above that 
they had “well marked” the curve with three notches 
on each side the trees. No doubt a modern surveyor’s 
ideas of a line being “well marked” would differ 
widely from this primitive conception. 

In 1701, when this survey was made, the settlements 
extended only along the eastern part of the curve. Its 
farther end, near the western branch of the Christiana 
Creek, was merely a marked hickory tree. No one now 
can determine its location, but it is supposed to be 
within the present limits of Maryland. 

The notches on the trees of course quickly dis¬ 
appeared, with the result that the western end of the 


10 


The Delaware Curve. 


line became a mere tradition, slumbering on in 
obscurity, through the decades, until interest in it was 
revived in recent years by the efforts to relocate the 
old curve. 

Along the eastern end of the line, which was earlier 
settled, some of the boundary lines in land patents and 
deeds followed the circular boundary and helped to 
preserve the memory of its location. Along its western 
portion, however, there were no marks upon the 
ground to indicate its direction, and the boundary line 
there, as above stated, became a mere traditional one. 

The points at which the repair of the roads passed 
from the township supervisors of one State to those 
of the other,- were handed down by mere tradition. 
The location of farms for the purposes of taxation, 
school attendance, voting, etc., was handed down from 
father to son and from public officials to their succes¬ 
sors in office, in the same way, merely by tradition. 

If one were traveling by road from one State to 
the other, he had no means of knowing in which State 
he was, save by inquiry. There was nothing whatever 
upon the ground, nor in the public archives at Harris¬ 
burg or Dover, that would give him this information. 

As between two important States of the Union, this 
condition of things was surely an anomaly, calling for 
early remedy; and yet affairs remained in this state 
as late as 1892, indeed down until 1921 if we consider 
the final ratification of the newly run line. 

THE WEDGE. 

The curious little wedge-shaped territory of about 
800 acres at the west end of the curve, forms another 
unique feature of this unique State boundary. (See 
Appendix, note E .) Until the ratification of the new 
line in 1921 (which gave the w T edge to Delaware) it 
was so colored on the maps as to indicate it belonged 
to Pennsylvania. And yet, so curious is the fact, 


The Delaware Curve. 


11 


Delaware liad always exercised jurisdiction over the 
wedge. Its inhabitants always paid taxes and voted 
in Delaware. Within the wedge is located an entire 
village, Meclianicsville, which once sent as a member 
to the Delaware Legislature a certain William Smith, 
by whose vote, it is said, Delaware was prevented from 
freeing her slaves. Why this interesting anomaly? 

The explanation, as suggested by Cope and Futhey 
(History of Chester County, p. 161), is as follows: 
In 1701, when the curve was first run, the region at 
its western end, as already stated, was unsettled. As 
the land at this western end came many years later to 
be gradually taken up—the settlers had no way of 
knowing on which side of the curve their farms lay; 
and when Mason and Dixon came along, in 1764, and 
established the northeast corner of Maryland, the land- 
owners no doubt supposed the curve to end at or near 
this corner. The Delaware settlers accordingly occu¬ 
pied the land clear up to the corner, and continued to 
exercise jurisdiction over it from then on. This ex¬ 
planation seems most plausible. 

How then did the wedge come to be shown on the 
maps as being part of Pennsylvania? This was the 
result of the work in 1849-50 of Col. Graham, of the 
United States Topographical Engineers. He was 
secured by a joint Commission of the three States, 
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware, to replace the 
stone at the northeast corner of Maryland which had 
disappeared. After doing this work he proceeded to 
survey the lines about the wedge, and he then found 
that a true twelve-mile radius from New Castle would 
bring the circular boundary some three-quarters of a 
mile eastward from the Maryland corner, which would 
result in giving the wedge to Pennsylvania. 

The report of this Commission was joined in by the 
Delaware Commissioner, George R. Riddle, Esq., but 
as it would have given this territory to Pennsylvania, 


> > > 



12 


The Delaware Curve. 


Delaware refused to ratify the work of the Commis¬ 
sion, though Pennsylvania did take steps towards re¬ 
running the line by Act of April 22, 1850, and also 
by Act of March 20, 1869. The change was accepted 
on paper (in the maps) but was ignored in fact, Dela¬ 
ware continuing to exercise jurisdiction over the 
wedge. Thus we have the anomaly of the wedge being 
a part of Pennsylvania on the map, and yet being occu¬ 
pied and governed by Delaware. 

This action of the Joint Commission, while thus 
abortive, resulted at least in bringing to the attention 
of the public the unmarked condition of the circular 
boundary; and as the value of the lands concerned 
increased, there was a renewed agitation from time to 
time to have the old line relocated. 

Finally in 1889 Pennsylvania and Delaware ap¬ 
pointed a Joint Commission for this long-delayed pur¬ 
pose. Able men were named upon this Commission, 
Ex-Attorney General Wayne MacVeagh, Robert E. 
Monaghan, Esq., and William H. Miller, from Pennsyl¬ 
vania, and Ex-Senator Bayard, B. L. Lewis and John 
H. Hotfecker from Delaware.^ Each Commission 
named a surveyor, Benjamin H. Smith for Pennsyl¬ 
vania and Daniel Farra for Delaware. 

The Joint Commission, in order to obtain the best 
expert assistance, secured the co-operation of the 
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, which 
detailed from its force Captain W. C. Hodgkins. The 
latter has written a detailed account of the work, which 
was done in 1892, as well as a historical account of the 
boundary line. These are published in the Appendix 
to the Report of the United States Coast Survey for 
1893, pages 177 and 202. 

To describe fully the work of the surveyors would 
be beyond the scope of this paper. Suffice it to sum¬ 
marize the matter in brief. 

This accurate survey in 1892 established the fact 


The Delaware Curve. 


13 


that a true twelve-mile measurement from the spire 
of New Castle Court House (the centre of the circle 
as fixed by the final Penn-Baltimore agreement) fell 
over three thousand feet short of the traditional circle 
at its eastern end. If corrected this, we are told, 
would give nearly five thousand acres to Pennsylvania. 
(See Appendix note F.) 

With all their efforts these surveyors could find only 
three points on the entire curve that could be identi¬ 
fied: 

1. The site of Lamplugli’s house on the Delaware. 

2. The great curve in the Brandywine near Cossart. 

3. The stump of an old hickory tree at the south 
corner of Kennett and Pennsbury Townships. 

All of these three points were on the eastern half of 
the curve. Along the western half there was nothing 
remaining to guide the Commission. True, a few deeds 
did mention certain stones as being on the State line, 
but these deeds date long since the 1701 line was run, 
and merely represent where the settlers as they later 
took up their lands supposed the line to be. The Com¬ 
mission could in no way connect these deeds with the 
line of 1701, and so had to reject them as evidence. 

The statutory instructions to the Commission of 
1892 were to “re-establish” the old boundary line, and 
not run a new one. They wished, moreover, to disturb 
as few of the land-owners as possible. They there¬ 
fore adopted the above three points which alone could 
be verified, running the new curve through them and 
so disturbing practically no land-owners along this 
eastern half of the line. 

When it came to the western half, as above stated, 
there were no controlling land-marks to guide the 
Commission. Now a true circle can of course be run 
through any three points that are not in a straight 
line. Had the Commission extended to the westward 
this curve which they had adopted through these three 


14 


The Delaivare Curve. 


points, it would have taken them over into Maryland. 
This manifestly could not be done. 

What then were the Commission to do? In order not 
to encroach on Maryland territory the radius of the 
western half of the curve must evidently be shortened, 
and that was what was done. The new circular 
boundary was thus made up of two separate arcs 
having different centers, and this was necessary from 
the conditions upon the ground. 

But how fix the ends of this new western arc? 
Manifestly its eastern end must be at the stump of 
the old Kennett-Pennsbury Hickory, where the eastern 
arc ended, so as to connect with the latter. As to its 
western end, this was controlled, in the opinion of 
the Commission, by a circumstance already explained, 
viz., the work of Col. Graham about the wedge, in draw¬ 
ing the western end of the curve in eastward to the 
true twelve-mile radius. 

The map and report of this work of Col. Graham, 
as already stated, were signed by the Commissioners 
of the three States, including the Commissioner from 
Delaware, though not ratified by Delaware. This would 
have pushed back the Delaware boundary to the theo¬ 
retical twelve-mile circle, and would have given all the 
Wedge to Pennsylvania. 

However, as Delaware had always occupied the 
Wedge, the Commission of 1892, wishing to disturb 
the land-owners as little as possible, now decided to 
recognize Delaware’s title thereto and gave the Wedge 
absolutely to Delaware,—at the same time adopting 
the other feature of Col. Graham’s map, viz.: accept¬ 
ing as the western end of the new western arc the 
point where the north line of Maryland, projected 
eastward, would intersect the true twelve-mile circle. 
This they found to be 4169 feet east of the Maryland 
corner, and there the Commission planted the “Initial 
Stone” of the new boundary line. 


The Delaware Curve. 


15 


The net result, so far as this western end of the 
circle is concerned, is that Delaware gets the Wedge 
while Pennsylvania gets a narrow, curving horn- 
shaped strip of land north of the wedge tapering to 
a point at the corner of Kennett and Pennsbury. As 
Judge Hemphill said when passing on the legality of 
the new line, this in his opinion was a “fair and 
equitable exchange. ” It is in this horn-shaped strip 
that the properties of a few land-owners lie, who 
have been protesting against the transfer of their 
citizenship to Pennsylvania. 



Work of U. S. Coast Survey, 1892. Dotted line is the compound curve 

finally adopted. 


The Commission, after adopting this line, marked 
it with 46 substantial stone monuments. Twenty-two 
were placed at intervals of a mile, with the letters P 
and D on the respective sides and the date 1892. 
Twenty-two smaller stones were placed half-way be¬ 
tween the milestones and were marked simply -J. In 
addition to these are the initial monument at the west 













16 


The Delaware Curve. 


end of the curve, and the terminal one at the east 
end, near the Delaware River. 

The net result is that the new boundary line com¬ 
mences at the northeast corner of Maryland, and 
extends thence due east 4169 feet to the “Initial Monu¬ 
ment/ ’ and thence northeastwardly following these 
stones along the curve to the “Terminal Monument” 
on the bank of the Delaware. 

All this elaborate and technical work, however, 
threatened for a time to go for nothing. One of the 
land-owners near the west end of the curve, named 
Johnston, who by the new line was thrown into Penn¬ 
sylvania, wished to remain one of the “Blue Plan’s 
Chickens ’ ’ still. Accordingly when the tax-collector of 
London Britain Township, Chester County, called upon 
him for tax as being now in that Township, he refused 
payment. A levy was then made for the tax, and he 
applied for an injunction to the Court of Common 
Pleas of Chester County. 

After hearing the case fully, Judge Joseph Hemp¬ 
hill in a very interesting decision (in 6 Pa. District 
Reports Page 184) held the new line to be illegal 
and sustained the injunction. This he was compelled 
to do because of the language of the Acts creating 
the Commission, which authorized them to “re-estab¬ 
lish” the old circular boundary and not to lay a new 
one as they had in part done. 

In other words, the Commission had exceeded their 
powers, though, as we have seen, this was necessarily 
so, inasmuch as it was a physical impossibility to re¬ 
establish the old line. Judge Hemphill accordingly 
recommended that this defect be cured through a rati¬ 
fication, by the two States, of the work of the Com¬ 
mission. 

Pennsylvania did so ratify, with promptness, by the 
Act of June 22, 1897, but Delaware, largely by reason 
of the opposition of this Mr. Johnston and some of his 


The Delaware Curve. 


17 


fellow land-owners, refused to ratify. Once more the 
situation relapsed into the old condition of uncertainty 
and oblivion. 

As the years passed by, the whole matter was in 
danger of being utterly forgotten, and the careful and 
expensive work of this able Commission and their 
placing of these permanent monuments were in danger 
of going for nothing. Apart from these markers there 
was no record of the interstate boundary either on the 
ground or in the public archives of either State. As 
between two great Commonwealths, in these modern 
days, such a state of things surely seemed an anomaly. 
Soon the generation that saw the new line run would 
have passed along, and with less and less knowledge of 
the history of this long-standing controversy, it would 
have been harder and harder to set it right in the 
future. The Chester County Historical Society, realiz¬ 
ing this, and that it was a matter of public interest in 
which no private citizen would be apt to move, took 
the initiative in having the new line ratified by Dela¬ 
ware, which was finally done by Act of March 28, 1921. 

Under the Federal Constitution every compact be¬ 
tween States must be ratified by Congress. Again 
through the efforts of the Chester County Historical 
Society, an Act of Congress was secured to this effect, 
June 30, 1921, and thus the new line was finally made 
the legal boundary from thenceforth. 

Some of the land-owners who were transferred to 
Pennsylvania by the new line still protested against 
this transfer without their consent. They called a 
public meeting in June last, which was held at the 
village of Union, Delaware, close to the boundary line. 
To this were invited the tax authorities of New Castle 
and Chester Counties, a representative of the Chester 
County Historical Society, and others. 

Addresses were made on the legal and other phases 
of the subject. All were given an opportunity to 


18 


The Delaware Curve. 


express their views, and a few of the protesting land- 
owners assumed the role of the “embattled farmers” 
who ‘ 4 stood and tired the shot heard round the world, ’ ’ 
or rather round the Curve, in this case. It proved to 
be a sort of “town meeting.” Some strong language 
was used, such as “liberties” and “revolution.” 
Threats of resistance were made, and of an appeal to 
the United States Supreme Court. 

This opposition will, I believe, gradually die away 
as the facts are fully understood, and the unusual 
difficulties that confronted the Commission. This 
body, as already stated, was made up of an equal 
number of representatives from the two States. Ex- 
Senator Bayard, of Delaware, was made Chairman. 
They were men of conspicuous ability and impartiality. 
Their records show they gave a hearing to the farmers 
affected. Moreover in securing the aid of the United 
States Coast Survey they were assured of the best 
surveying talent in the land. There could hence be no 
possible bias or partiality towards either State. Let 
all of us, on each side of the line, remember that our 
ancestors on both sides of the boundary were once 
in a single Province, under the great, broad-minded 
Penn. Let us, therefore, in the broad spirit of Penn, 
live side by side, in mutual amity and respect. 

This new line will remain the legal boundary unless 
another Joint Commission be appointed by the two 
States, and the same lengthy procedure be gone 
through with. After more than two centuries of un¬ 
certainty a definite line has at last been established 
and marked with permanent markers, and it would 
undoubtedly take very strong and persuasive argu¬ 
ments to convince the two Legislatures that the 
involved matter should be once more opened up and 
the line run all over again. The controversy must end 
some time. No general law has probably ever been 
passed that did not affect someone adversely, but in 


The Delaware Curve. 19 

such cases the few should yield in the interest of the 
general public.* 

With the change of State allegiance of these land- 
owners, there will no doubt result certain legal com¬ 
plications unless statutes be passed to provide for the 
new situation. Provision should be made for transfer¬ 
ring the record of deeds, mortgages and other liens 
to the new States in each case. Statutes with this end 
in view should be promptly enacted. 



Dotted line represents true 12 miles circle from New Castle Court House. 
Heavy line is the Curve as finally adopted. 


With this act of simple justice to the protesting land- 
owners, should end the long story of this unique curved 
boundary—a story abounding with interesting inci¬ 
dents, and to him who knows to read history aright, 
almost as fascinating as romance. 


20 


The Delaware Curve. 


APPENDIX. 


Note A. 

Nowhere have I been able to find a like boundary, save in several 
county boundaries in Tennessee. In that State there is a Constitutional 
provision that no new county shall be erected within eleven miles of 
an existing county seat, so they have evidently in several cases drawn 
a curve of that radius about the county seat, thus making the inter¬ 
county boundary circular in form. 

Note B. 

This first deed also included “all islands in the said river Delaware, 
and the said river and soil thereof, lying north of the southernmost part 
of the said circle of twelve miles.” By this conveyance Delaware claimed 
jurisdiction over the whole width of the river and Bay. This question 
later was the result of ligitation between Delaware and New Jersey 
in the United States Supreme Court. Francis Rawle, Esq. of Phila¬ 
delphia, was appointed Commissioner in this case, and heard testimony, 
but the litigation was finally compromised by the two States agreeing 
to joint jurisdiction. This agreement is printed in appendix to Dela¬ 
ware Laws 1905. The compact was approved by Congress by Act of 
January 24, 1907, 34 Statutes at Large 858. See also 205 U. S. Reports 
550. 

Note C. 

The cost of running the curve was divided between the two counties. 
Chester County’s portion was 26 pounds 9 shillings, as appears by the 
Grand Jury’s allowance of the account, ye 24th of the 12th month 
1701/2. See page 73 of Court Records in Prothonotary’s Office, West 
Chester, in volume for years 1697-1710. 

Note D. 

When the Commissioners appointed by Penn’s Sons and Lord Balti¬ 
more were endeavoring to run these long-disputed lines, many interest¬ 
ing controversies arose between the two sides. The Baltimore party 
took the position that the twelve miles radius from New Castle should 
be measured not horizontally but superficially, i.e. up and down hill. 
This plan would have resulted in all the radii being of different lengths, 
and so preventing the running of a true circle. This seems sufficiently 
absurd upon its face, and yet it required a resort to the Court of 
Chancery in England to have this point decided, which of course was 
done in favor of the Penns. (See 1 Vesey Sr.’s Reports p. 444.) 

Another ridiculous position taken by the Baltimore party, was in 
the controversy over the location of the center of New Castle from 
which to commence the twelve mile measurement. In John Watson’s 



The Delaware Curve . 


21 


Diary (Nov. 22, 1750) in the archives of the Pennsylvania Historical 
Society, this plan is thus described,— 

“Having made an exact plan of the survey of the Town upon a 
piece of paper, they carefully pared away the edges of the drought 
until no more than the drought was left, when sticking a pin through 
it, they suspended it thereby in different places until they found a 
place whereby it might be suspended horizontally, which point or place 
they accepted as the center of gravity.” 

This center of gravity, it might be observed, would change with the 
erection of each new building on the edges of the town, and with the 
opening of each new street. This unique contention proved also of no 
avail to the Baltimore party, the Court of Chancery deciding that the 
center of the town was its Court House. 

If the reader is minded to pursue these many interesting details, 
connected with the whole broad subject, he will find a veritable mine of 
information in the 160 page list of Source Material at the rear of the 
Report on the Resurvey of the Mason and Dixon Line, published by 
the Secretary of Internal Affairs, in 1909. This may be had free by 
sending to this Department at Harrisburg. 

.Note E. 

During the existence of the Wedge, prize fights and other disorders 
are said to have taken place in and about its boundaries, at various 
times. Advantage was taken of the uncertainty of the lines by these 
disorderly characters. When pursued by the officers of one State they 
could easily flee into one of the others. 

Note F. 

The discrepancy in these figures is probably accounted for, in part, 
by the fact that Taylor and Pierson’s measurement began at the end of 
the Horse Dike (wherever that was), whereas the Hodgkins survey of 
1892 was from the spire of the Court House, as specified by the final 
Penn-Baltimore Agreement of 1760. 

* Information has just come from Harrisburg that such an Act was 
passed and approved by Governor Pinchot, May 16th, 1923. 


121 North High Street. 


























